Sunday, September 4, 2011

England vs Argentina, 2009 Match 1

With the start of Rugby World Cup 2011 just days away and the much awaited clash between Argentina and England, which will take place in Dunedin this Saturday, September 10th, on every rugby fans mind it is only appropriate to look back at the matches between the two sides since the previous Rugby World Cup. In total there were three matches and all took place in 2009 with England hosting two matches and Argentina one. The first match was played in the North-Western English city of Manchester at the home of English soccer giants Manchester United, Old Trafford. The match was scheduled to be played in Argentina as the first of a two-match test series but the UAR decided to move the fixture to Manchester in a bid to make some extra revenue while the second match would be a return fixture taking place one week latter in Argentina. As such is awas a very rare home match for England in that it was played at a venue other than Twickenham.

Both teams were missing players with England having players on Lions duty in South Africa and Argentina having a number of players, includinmg captain Felipe Contepomi, on the sidelines through injury. Nonetheless the public responded as over 40,000 fans attented the match in what was rainy conditions. The match served as an indicator of what was to come from both sides looking towards New Zealand 2011 as both teams fielded a number of young players who have since earned their place permanently in their country´s squad. Of the players that played in Manchester, nine are in the English squad for Rugby World Cup 2011 including the starting back-three. While Argentina have selected fourteen of the players from the match for New Zealand 2011.

England were the better side on the day, with Argentina unable to put together much attacking rugby. England scored three tries, three more than los Pumas did with fullback Delon Armitage scoring two and winger Matt Banahan the other. But this game, initially was dominated by the flyhalves who were involved in a kicking exchange. Juan Martín Hernández got Argentina off to the perfect start with a drop goal in the first minute of play but it was the boot of his opponent, Andy Goode that was the dominant feature of this match. The then France based flyhalf kicked a total of eight goals for a persona haul of 22 points as England won by a big margin of 37-15. England´s superiority left Argentina looking a shadow of the side that finished third in France 2007 and following the game Los Pumas travelled to Argentina to prepare for the second test in search of a vastly improved performance.